Do you like chai? I do, so a chai wine was a “must try” – rich, exotic spices infused into strong black tea sounds like a winning combination!
I based this brew on Pixie’s Pocket’s Spiced Chai Wine recipe. I did, of course, make some of my own modifications. Per the recipe, I added chopped fresh ginger, cinnamon sticks, star anise, freshly ground black pepper, and whole cloves to the steeping water; I also added a few green cardamom pods (just because I like them). In addition, instead of using 2 English Breakfast tea bags, I used 4 Trader Joe’s chai (tea)bags which added some nutmeg, chicory, and vanilla bean. Good and spicy!
After the mixture had steeped for the allotted time, I strained it into a carboy, stirred in the sugar and about a teaspoon of molasses, and let the mixture cool for several hours; once cooled to room temperature, I added ginger wine yeast slurry from a recently-racked batch.
The must was very foamy when first transferred to the secondary fermenter, but it settled down after a couple of days (hence the “crust” in the neck of the jug below). It’s happily bubbling away in the secondary fermenter now.
It’ll work its magic for a month or so, then I’ll rack it to a clean carboy so it’s not sitting on the sediment. This warming, spicy wine should be ready to drink just in time for fall weather! 🍂
If you haven’t tried tea wines yet, you may really be surprised at how good (and easy to make) they are!
Mmmmm! This sounds yummy!
I’m looking forward to your review of the finished wine. 🙂